jbl

I have a MacBook laptop that I have killed ! I have managed to make the hard drive useless by switching off when the "beachball of death " was spinning.

The laptop was bought last May so is still under its first year warranty, but I am its second owner, not the original purchaser , but I do have the original purchase invoice.

Will a replacement hard drive be fitted free under the warranty. I would say that the system was at fault as the screen froze, forcing switch off.

Will it matter that I am the second owner and can it be taken to any Apple dealer for repair.

First time I have ever had to do this so am wanting to be certain of my rights.

Thanks

Brian

miss d

dont say your second owner and some places may charge

RichB

Do you not have any of the disks that came with it.
I've had this problem before and revived it.

When the machine boots, do you hear the chime?
What type of icon do you see?
Does the screen change from the grey background with Apple logo to the blue desktop and then hang?
Do you ever get to the point where the menu bar begins to appear but then it hangs?

Rich

BuRR

Take it to your nearest apple store - they'll be able to tell the warranty status from the serial number.

corradoboy

Do the new Intel machines allow you to boot from disc. You used to be able to insert an install CD/DVD and hold "C" at start-up and it would boot using the System Folder on the disc. You could then use the Disc Utilities to erase or format the HD before doing a fresh install. Alternatively, if you have access to another Mac you could connect the two via either ethernet or Firewire and boot as a target drive. Rich or someone more learned than me would have to run through that one though as I've never been there.

RichB

Not aware the Target Disk mode runs over ethernet, in fact Im sure it doesn't.

What you need is two macs with Firewire, connect them together with FW cable, with the good mac on, trying turning on the bad mac whilst holding down the 'T' key.
The screen should go blue with a large yellow (I think) Firewire logo on the screen, you can let go of the T key now.
On the good mac, the bad mac's disk might have appeared as another drive.
Try running disk utility on that.

I doubt this will work though.

I would suggest starting up with a restore or system disk.
Where in the country are you?

RichB

If it is still under warranty I bet your local apple store will fix this fairly quickly.

jbl

A few more details.

When the machine starts all I get is a flashing 'folder' logo with a question mark in it.
No chimes, no sound , no progress.
If I load the original software I can get to disk repair but there is no hard disc listed to verify or repair.
Can't do an archive reinstall as the 'Destination ' window is empty, there is nothing to load the OSX onto.

Location- Rutland, East Mids.

Cheers and Thanks

Brian

RichB

Hmm, can you try booting and immediately hold down (and keep holding down) CMD+ALT+P+R let it chime twice.
Let me know if it doesn't chime at all.

jbl

OK , tried that, chimed twice and then gray screen and flashing folder/question mark, as before.

Brian

corradoboy

AppleInsider - View Single Post - FAQ: Check here first if you have problems!

AppleInsider - View Single Post - FAQ: Check here first if you have problems!

Try these

Markus

I could be wrong but the first link's mention of using command-option-O-F won't work on an intel based mac as it does not have open firmware.

If disk utility / apple installer isn't displaying the hard drive then it's a tad worrying to say the least.

RichB

In the days of OS9, this problem was known as the system folder becoming 'unblessed' - If you remember, a folder with both the 'finder' and 'system' files in was blessed and you knew this as the folder icon has the little system icon in it. It was fairly common for this to get screwed which gives you the same result that you are having now, flashing folder with question mark.
Booting off CD and then moving the files out and back in quite often reblessed it and all was well.

What you could try is booting off the CD again and seeing whether the System Prefs->Startup disk shows your HD. Obviously we think it won't but worth a try...

I think really it's a trip to an Apple center for you I'm afriad.

Rich

jbl

It's off to the Apple dealer on Wednesday and they can sort it.

Thanks for all the help/tips etc

Cheers

Brian

mattbeef

Dont take it to an Apple Dealer Apple Retail will sort it the quickest as will still be under warrenty

rich101

Mmmm interesting I have exactly the same problem with a G4 PB i.e. flashing folder / question mark etc . . . I have pulled the drive and mounted it in a 2.5" enclosure to get to the files.

So from going on what has been said an install via another G4 machine might just do the trick.

The PB will not even boot from the install CD just flashing folder on grey screen.

Grrrrrrr Rich

jbl

I am taking it to our nearest Apple shop. A company that is an authorised Apple seller and has it's own tech support and repair services. It is a well known Apple specialist. We have bought from them previously and have been well satisfied.

Is this what you term 'Apple Retail' or are they something totally different ?

Cheers

Brian

RichB

My Lombard Powerbook G3 with broken screen hinges, missing keys and keys (2,w,s,x) that don't work regularly has this problem, I have to hit the keyboard (fairly hard - around the '890uiophjkl' area) and it will start up. It is fairly old now
I suspect this is what is happening to everyone, it is almost as though the disk is stuck and needs a whack to get it going.
Try it at your own risk!

mattbeef

No Apple Retail is what i call the propper Apple store ie on the Apple website.
If your taking it to an authorised reseller than you will be fine, its just that alot of people claim to fix apple machines and then end up making a bodge job of it.

corradoboy

Rich, the HD is under the rectangle marked by the keys...

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Love the method